BV report: Smart ships key to transition

Smart ships will facilitate compliance with international regulations and reductions in operating costs through reduced emissions, increased efficiency, and improved maintenance, to name a few, says BV. Yet despite these significant benefits, integrating smart functions onboard ships remains a complex endeavour.

The report discusses key concepts and enablers behind smart ships, what smart ships really are, and why they matter for the shipping industry. It also discusses how classification societies like BV can support their clients in defining their ambitions for a smart transition.

At its core, smart shipping is about data; how data is collected, communicated, processed, shared and leveraged, states the report. “Data alone, however, is just data. Ships become smart when shipowners start collecting and transforming this data into useful information that shows intelligence and good judgement about the management of systems, ships and fleet,” says Tihomir Kezic, Director, Global Product Owner Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, in the report’s introduction.

Technological advances – and buzzwords – such as IOT and AI are not – and should not be – ends in and of themselves. Rather, they are tools to be leveraged to meet specific, well-defined needs that will vary across the shipping industry and among its key players. And while degrees of autonomy are part of the transition to smart shipping, all smart ships are not autonomous – nor should they be. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to smart functions for ships.

The ‘smart’ in ‘smartship’ may refer to either the use shipowners and managers make of data gathered or how ship’s systems use that same data to navigate autonomously.

Bureau Veritas has developed Smart notations that support clients in the development and pursuit of their smart transition. These notations are divided into four groups:

● SMART 1 – focuses on integrated, computer-based ships.

● SMART 2 – concerns connected ships.

● SMART 3 – focuses on augmented ships and what happens to data once it arrives onshore.

● SMART 4 – accounts for remotely operated and autonomous ships.

These four groups are interrelated, but do not need to be sequential.

SMART 1 addresses the functions: SMART(H) for hull structure and ship’s stability, SMART(M) for machinery systems, SMART(N) for navigation systems, SMART(EnE) for Energy Efficiency solutions, and SMART(MH) for Machinery Health Monitoring.

SMART 2 focuses on shipboard networks, ship-to-shore data communications and data servers. It addresses cyber security threats through operational management, overall ship design, and ship systems and equipment. It also addresses ship to shore data communications for the transfer of the data between the ship and applications onshore.

As ships become smarter, with greater numbers of systems being digitally monitored and communicating with shore, they also become more vulnerable to cyberattacks. “When investing time and money into building a new ship system, cyber security needs to be a focus from the beginning. Cyber security should not just be a matter of applying standards, but of going beyond what is required to unlock more business opportunities through cyber security by design,” says Philippe Vaquer, Head of Cyber Security, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore.

SMART 3 focuses on augmented ships and what happens to data once it arrives on shore: how it is cleaned, integrated, processed and contextualised to support decision making. It covers monitoring, optimisation and predictions enabled by data-driven solutions used onshore.

SMART 4 addresses remotely operated and autonomous ships, helping clients navigate the possibilities while international regulations are still under development. Bureau Veritas released its first guideline (NI641) on autonomous systems in December 2017. It was subsequently revised in 2019, and covers: scope and definition, risk and technology assessment, minimum levels of functionality recommended for essential systems, and the reliability of autonomous systems.

The smart notations are being developed continuously as new digital technologies emerge. The framework is intended to support BV’s clients on their journey into smart shipping – whatever their starting point, whatever their objective.

The report is available here.